Nothing Else Matters
by emmaplodocus
Summary: Cooper, released into the custody of the FBI to help them solve cases is handed his most important case to date, his younger brother Blaine has been kidnapped.. - If you don't watch WC don't worry, and if you do, Cooper is Neal!
1. Chapter 1

This is my first crossover and my first time writing anything dramatic like this.

**If you don't watch White Collar **(and I urge you to give it a shot) then don't worry! Just treat everyone as you would OC's and all you need to know is that in White Collar Neal escaped from prison, and Peter is the only guy to ever catch him - which he did twice. After getting sent back to prison Neal is released into Peter and the FBI's custody to help them solve cases. He has to wear an ankle monitor and cannot go 2 miles out of its range, they can track him at all times. That's it!

**If you do **- Neal = Cooper.

I hate the decision I made in my other fic to change Cooper's name, and because this is centered toward the Glee fandom I'm changing Neal to Cooper.

Originally this wasn't a crossover but when I was imaging all the FBI stuff in my mind it was all White Collar based so I figured why not? Also lets just ignore the fact that the FBI isn't based in Lima. The only way I could get everything to work continuity wise I didn't like, this way doesn't bother me so hopefully it doesn't bother anyone else too much.

**Warnings: **for violence and child abuse.

Enjoy and please let me know what you think!

Usually he wouldn't have even answered the phone, he was just about to enter the conference room for a briefing on whichever new case they were going to take, but one glance at the screen and Cooper sees it's Blaine. Blaine doesn't often call him, and Cooper doesn't have to think twice about answering it instantly.

"Hey Blaine, what's up?"

"Coo…Cooper…help me…"

"Blaine? What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

"They…Coop they kidnapped me…"

"What? Who? Blaine can you tell me anything?"

Cooper's heart has stopped. He's gripping his phone to his ear as thought bringing it closer will bring Blaine closer too. Kidnappings he has dealt with before, but never had anything personal become involved. Who is they? Is it a stranger Or it could be some bastards that used to bully him, wanting to terrify him for a laugh. He wants to collapse, but he is in the FBI's office and works with an excellent team, so he has the good sense to enter the conference room, quiet everyone with his violent hand gestures and tear filled eyes and put his phone on speaker.

Another voice answers, one that is cold and hard and so unlike his brother's.

"That's enough. Cooper Anderson, as you just heard, we have your brother."

Cooper snarls. "Who are you?"

The man laughs. "We've met before."

"You give me Blaine back right now. Unharmed."

"For a price."

"What price? What do you want?"

"I will be in touch."

Cooper's shriek meets the dial tone. He swirls around and kicks the door with as much force as he has. Behind the chaos in his mind he can hear orders being barked around.

"- Connect his phone, we can trace the next call."

"- Recognise the voice?"

"Pull files of anyone Cooper has had interactions with that we couldn't put away. It might be someone on one of our old cases."

A hand on his shoulder shakes him back to reality and Diana, one of his co-workers is kneeling next to him, trying to offer comfort, but Cooper can't even recall sinking to the floor in the first place. He gets up on shaky legs and the room descends into silence as they watch and wait. He leaves the room, they know how to do their jobs, right now Cooper needs to breathe, and he has t ring his parents. He has to make this call away from others because as he gets older he loses more and more patience where his parents are concerned. "Mom? Dad?"

"Cooper honey! So nice that you -"

"Did you know Blaine was missing?"

"What do you mean missing? Don't be silly." Cooper feels a familiar boil of rage and frustration in his stomach toward the woman that calls herself Blaine's mother. The woman that dons a sickley sweet voice, designer clothes and thinks that she can ignore her youngest child if her eldest one surpasses expectations and she does it from inside a spa. Blaine had always resented Cooper, Cooper was treated like he was perfect and Blaine was ignored from the second he came out. Even four years in prison couldn't change their prejudice.

"Well did he come home last night? Or did he leave really early this morning? I need to know."

"Cooper how should we know? He spends most of his time running around with that boy we don't know where they go."

"You don't care. He's been kidnapped and you don't even know if he came home last night or not! You know what I do for a living and you don't think it's important to simply check if your son comes home at night or not!"

He puts the phone down and has to remind himself it is his only link to Blaine before he throws it out the window.

"Cooper." Peter Burker, his superior, the man whose custody he was released into is in front of him now. Peter guides Cooper to his office and shuts the door, he forces him into a chair and puts a small measureof whiskey into his hands which he knocks back immediately. "Listen to me, the entire office is making this case our priority. We need you Cooper. We need the man that has helped with countless cases like this before. I know it isn't easy, but if you let this get personal then you'll be off the case, and I know you want to be with us every step of the way. The best thing you can do to find him is to keep a clear head."

"I'll do whatever it takes."

"I know you will. Cooper you have to stay with us on this, you cannot go off alone, I need to know everything you find out."

Cooper nods and stands up and wipes his eyes and looks at Peter. He trusts Peter with his own life, and has done so for years now, but he values the life of his brother far higher than his own.

"I'm going to talk to Kurt. If anyone was with Blaine last night, chances are it was him, they're inseparable. If my parents stop by, deal with them, I don't want to."

He's almost out of the door when Diana runs after him shoving a fax of a local police report into his hands.

"Cooper! Someone already called the police about Blaine. Kurt Hummel tried to report him missing."

"Shit. That's Blaine's boyfriend. I'm going there now."

"Maybe someone else should go…"

"If anyone's questioning Blaine's boyfriend it's going to be me."

"We'll find him Cooper."

"We don't have another option."

Inside he is still lost, he is horror stricken and he knows that the only way he can stop himself from falling apart is by doing something and luckily he is in a position where he can actually do something.

Unluckily, it is probably that position that put Blaine in danger in the first place. If he has met this man before, then he has pissed him off and Cooper cannot even begin to list the people he has screwed over or stolen from and conned. It could be anyone. He won't rest until he gets his brother back, if he didn't have that drive, that ability to know he can actually get Blaine back, he would be on the floor right now. He can't do that though, he has to do anything he can do to get Blaine back.

Nothing else matters.

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Blaine hears the car door open and he turns round, a smile on his face, the word 'Kurt' leaves his mouth because that is who he is expecting to see. He thinks Kurt has forgotten something, the possibility that a stranger would open his car door and get in beside him had never crossed his mind, so he turns around with a smile already on his face and it falls, when he sees a man in a baseball cap is sitting next to him, a gun in his hand.

Blaine's heart stops and his stomach plummets and he doesn't know what to do. So he panics and opens his mouth to scream and fumbles to try and get out the door but a gloved hand on his arm stops him.

"Stay where you are Blaine. Don't scream or I'll shoot you."

"Wh…no…how do you know…"

He swallows and wipes his tears away and the man laughs.

"Please…let me go…"

"No. Blaine, do I need to show you that this gun is real? Do I need to prove it to you?"

"No."

"Do what I say and when I say it. Drive."

Blaine can't even think right now, he knows he can't drive. He is shaking uncontrollably. He whimpers, expecting to be hit when the man reaches over him and grabs his seatbelt, but all he does it pull it across his body and click it in place.

"The first thing you're going to do is give me your phone."

Blaine shakes his head, not in specific denial to that request, more in denial to the entire situation.

The man, the monster, whoever he is jerks Blaine towards him, a hand fastening around his shirt collar, he's already finding it hard to breathe and the more he struggles the more it hurts. The hand travels upwards until thick, rough fingers are under his chin, squeezing.

Blaine's hands fly up to his throat and his eyes widen in panic and then blur from pain and pleas and promises and broken lines of whatever sounds Blaine can force past his lips finally sees the man let go, but now he is sitting, playing with that gun, and the thought crosses Blaine's mind for a second that it could be fake, because how would Blaine even know? But the man had just proved to Blaine that doesn't matter - he could kill him with his bare hands if he wants too.

So Blaine hands him his phone.

"You know the way you'd go if you were heading to the coast?" Blaine nods. "Then fucking drive." The man pushes the gun hard into Blaine's side who sobs, but starts the engine.

He and Kurt had just finished a date. They'd gone to the movies, it finished late so they had gone in their own cars, they had said their goodnights and Blaine had been fiddling on his phone and changing the CD in his car when the man had gotten in. He should have locked the doors. He should have gone straight home.

He pulls out of the car park, gets to the exit and stalls the car twice, the man swears in annoyance and Blaine's driving skills return in full force out of sheer fear alone.

He considers crashing on purpose…

He's too scared to even do that.

They're on a country lane now, and Blaine knows that this is it. A deserted road like this, one that no one ever takes at night, is perfect for whatever it is that's going to happen to him. He feels like he's going to be sick. He's proved right.

"There is a van parked around the next corner, park behind it. Try anything and I'll shoot you in the kneecap understand?"

"Yes."

The second he's parked the car he jumped violently because someone else, someone new, opens the door to his side of the car, and the man next to him is releasing the seat belt and the new man drags him out and slams him into the side of the car.

A voice snarls into his ear, "stay still or I will break your arm."

His arms are forced behind his back and tied tightly, he is pushed toward the back of the van, medium sized, a work logo on the side and of course, no windows, and thrown in the back, he lands on his front and cries out in pain, the man that was in his car with him gets in the back with him, drags hi all the way inside and slams the door shut. He's enveloped into darkness. The engine starts and he tries to get up, to scurry into a corner and try to melt away but he is kicked back down onto the dusty floor. He sobs, feeling the rough motion of the van on the uneven road jerking him around. The man is sat on a blanket, toying the gun probably just for fun and looking like he hasn't just kidnapped a teenage boy.

Blaine thinks about how impossible it is going to be for someone to find him. He wonders when people will notice he's gone - if he's lucky, Kurt will notice tonight because they always call each other before bed. Thinking of Kurt just makes him cry even harder, he doesn't stop when the man hits him because the noise is getting annoying, he just thinks about everything and everyone in his life that he loves, like Kurt and Cooper, and thinks that maybe the last thing he will ever see is the back of this van.

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Yes, no? Suggestions? I hope you enjoyed it! Future chapters will have this same layout.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for your wonderful reviews and all of the adds to your alerts I get so excited every time I see one you have no idea!

I hope you like this chapter :D

Blaine is very passive at the moment but he won't always be!

* * *

><p>"Jones, follow Cooper everywhere he goes. I want someone watching him constantly. If he gets a lead on this then his anklet won't stop him from heading off into danger alone."<p>

"Okay."

Cooper glares at Peter as he pulls on his suit jacket. "I am in the room you know."

"I know as well as you do what you're like. This is a good idea. You'll notice him tailing you anyway. Might as well be honest. You've got to work with us on this Cooper, anything…extra you do…anything outside of the law you need to tell us, you cannot go off alone on anything, got it?"

Cooper nods but he doesn't say anything, he will do whatever it takes to get Blaine back and will not promise otherwise.

Cooper drives to Kurt's house himself and pretends not to notice the car that trails him. He knows that Peter knows him better than anyone, and Peter is right - Cooper wouldn't waste a second going off to get Blaine if the opportunity arose, it would probably work out in his favour to have someone else know what he was doing.

Cooper hadn't met Kurt yet because he barley ever saw Blaine anymore. Any impression Kurt already had of him would not be a good one, Cooper had left Blaine alone and now he was the reason he had been taken. Cooper had ended up in jail for the most important four years of his little brother's life, he had only been out six months and whilst he and Blaine had been getting along better lately and seeing each other more Blaine hadn't worked up the courage to introduce him to Kurt yet. Cooper knew almost everything about the other boy - Blaine didn't stop talking about him. So now Cooper would be doing it himself - one more thing he was bound to screw up. He regrets it, because the way Blaine talks about Kurt shows him that he wasn't far off meeting him. He had been looking forward to it.

He knocks on the front door and already gets the impression that an actual family lives there, not like his old home - the one Blaine is stuck in.

A boy that could only be Kurt opens the door almost instantly, he gapes at Cooper before stuttering. "I…you're…Oh no. This isn't good, it can't be. Is Blaine hurt?"

"Cooper, Blaine's brother. I'm sorry this is the first time we're meeting." Cooper extends his hand and allows himself a couple of seconds to agree with Blaine, Kurt is beautiful, before thinking of his brother makes his heart stop and he has to remind himself he is here to tear apart the world of the this boy that his brother loves just like his own world was ruined this morning.

"Kurt it's best that I come in."

"Yes, yes." Kurt lets him inside immediately and he looks nervous so Cooper sits and wants to get this over with as soon as possible.

"Kurt? Who is this?"

"Dad this is Cooper, he's Blaine's older brother…this is my dad, Burt. What's wrong with Blaine?"

Cooper sucks in a deep breath. "How much has Blaine told you about me?"

"Everything."

Wow.

Blaine was a private person and he hated Cooper had ended up in prison and he especially hated that everyone thought it was so brilliant he was working with the FBI despite everything that had led him there. He resented Cooper for being absent when he should have been there for him. If he told Kurt everything, it had to be serious. Looks like Blaine had fallen hard.

"Okay, so you know I work with the FBI now?" He watches for signs of surprise, but gets none. What surprises him however, is that the dad, he isn't surprised either. "Last night…you spoke to the police about trying to submit a missing persons report."

Kurt's eyes are red now and he's gripping his father's hand for comfort. "Yes."

"I know you contacted the police about Blaine." Kurt nods. "Tell me everything that happened."

"Last night we were on a date, we went to the movies. The film finished and we said goodbye. I left at ten thirty, I pulled out the parking lot before Blaine but knew he was going straight home. I gave him twenty minutes to get home which is plenty and we always text each other as soon as we're back. I got worried when he didn't text me at eleven, so I rang him but got no answer…same until half past then I got really worried. At midnight…I rung the house phone. I know that sounds pushy like I didn't give him enough time but he texts as soon as he gets home and he always makes sure I let him know I'm back safe as well and he hadn't asked if I was back either…We call each other before bed and Blaine wouldn't have been up at midnight …"

Cooper knows Kurt must have been so worried to call the landline. Cooper has no idea if his dad has ever met Kurt but that is irrelevant because he knows that he would never like the boyfriend of his son in a million years. No matter who he was.

"You are a good boyfriend." That is so beyond the point right now but the sentiment is out of his mind before he can stop it.

Kurt shakes his head like he's let Blaine down and carries on. "Your dad answered, he was annoyed but confirmed Blaine hadn't gotten in yet. He put the phone down on me. I didn't have your number and he wouldn't pick up the house phone again and I'm so sorry I don't know where he is!"

Cooper balls his hands into fists. His dad had known something was wrong last night only he didn't care enough to notice.

Kurt starts sobbing into his dad's shoulders who takes over. "We retraced Blaine's steps, he definitely left the parking lot because his car was gone so we followed the route home he usually takes in case he had been in an accident and Kurt rung all of Blaine's nearby friends. When we couldn't find anything we reported it to the police who told us they couldn't do anything until a day later. We were going back there later today as soon as we could to do it."

"Thank you. Thank you so much. Kurt…this is important…is there anything you remember about last night that didn't feel right? Anyone say anything to you guys or anyone that struck you as suspicious?"

"We didn't notice anything, no. No-one said anything about us being on a date either…do you think it was a hate crime?"

Cooper leans forward and puts his head in his hands fighting off the sting of disappointment at having no leads on this - he was completely at the mercy of their demands unless they found something that couldhelp.

"No, Kurt. It wasn't."

He wishes he had brought Peter with him after all now because he feels like ripping himself apart and cannot bear to look at the wonderful boy in front of him who got worried after half an hour of silence, by telling him this news. "Kurt…Blaine's…Blaine's been kidnapped." Kurt lets out something halfway between a sob and a scream at the news but Cooper keeps talking because if he doesn't he will stop completely. "I got a call from him this morning saying so and that they would be in touch."

"It's all my fault! I should have watched him drive off first!"

"Kurt it is not your fault."

"Kurt you're the one who noticed he was gone. You've already done so much. We are doing everything we can. Just let me know if you think of anything at all that might help. No matter how small."

"Will you keep me informed? If I give you my number. Please."

"Yes. I will. I promise. Thank you Kurt."

"I trust that if anyone finds him it will be his brother. He said you were the best."

"He did?"

Cooper assumes the look on Kurt's face is as close to a smile as he can manage right now. "He also said he wishes you'd used it for good."

Cooper sucked in a breath because that is such an extraordinarily Blaine-like thing to say. He can imagine Blaine pacing up and down one night, frustrated. Saying how good a painter Cooper was and what a waste it is he's a fraud. He's heard it all before after all. "Well I will do now."

A kind looking woman rushes in to comfort Kurt who by now is sobbing and looks exactly how Cooper feels, while Burt walks him to the door. He steps outside with him and hands him a business card with his contact details on.

"I really care about Blaine, he's a good kid and he means the world to Kurt. You need anything you let me know…and…I know it won't be your first concern or anything when you find stuff out but please keep us updated…anything you don't want to tell Kurt…tell me."

Cooper nods and thanks the man, he slips the card carefully into his pocket.

He means any bad news goes through him first.

* * *

><p>Any hope that Blaine had of people seeing him and saving him when he got out of the back of the van, was shot down instantly. He's blindfolded and they don't untie his arms. He tries to thrash around but they have such a strong hold on him when he leaves the van it's useless. Besides, he's tied and has no way to see where he's going if he does break free for a moment - he knows its useless. He stumbles as a strong hand guides his shoulders and tells him when to walk, he's inside, they make him walk up a set of stairs - he's terrified he'll fall. It doesn't feel like they were outside anyway, he was probably in an abandoned warehouse or somewhere equally creepy, rundown and nondescript.<p>

He hears a thud and his hands are being untied as he's shoved into something, he puts his arms out to save himself from falling but feels cold metal in front of him, it feels like rungs…it's another ladder. This isn't good. He's so trapped.

"Climb."

There's a strong hand on his back the entire time pushing him upwards, it's so difficult having to climb like this, he aches, he's terrified and still blind. He gets up there and someone must have gone up first because someone pulls him up the rest of the way and he yelps in surprise. He tries to shove away again but he knows he can't get down the stairs…he's just pushed to the floor and dragged along, he tries to move his legs and keep up. Whoever it is makes him sit on the floor, his back is against something - a pole of some sort? A beam? And his hands are tied behind his back again.

He can hear footsteps moving around, and his own heart thumping. He tries to bring his knees up as close to his chest as he can. He whimpers in surprise when a hand touches his face, his blindfold is taken off and the room he is in, is pitch black - he can't see anything at all.

One of the men kneels in front of him - it's the first man, the one that took him, Blaine can barely even look at him until he is told to and he obeys simply because his fear of punishment for disobeying outweighs his fear of looking.

"We're going to leave you here until morning, give people the night to worry about where you are and then in the morning we'll call your brother and set the plan in place."

"Wh-what, why Cooper?"

"Your brother has pissed me off and now I'm making him pay. So you wait here, and we will see you in the morning."

The men laugh and leave him tied to the floor. It looks like he's in a loft or an attic conversion of some sort, his eyes are slowly adjusting, he can see there's the wooden beams like the one he's tied to extending from floor to ceiling at the highest points, the roof is slanted and it looks like there's a window but it's on the other side of the room and isn't really that big - it's too high to reach to get open even if he was free anyway. All he can do is sit here and cry.

Cooper will get him back. Blaine knows it. He works for the FBI and he loves Blaine and Blaine knows that Cooper can do anything when he sets his mind to it - because some of the things he has done were thought to be pretty impossible. Blaine hopes he can steal him back the way he has stole so many other things.

If they knew Cooper, then he was taken for a very specific reason and they obviously want him to suffer and want Cooper to suffer as well, he assumes there will be a ransom and he hopes that means they won't kill him.

He's so uncomfortable, he's aching from all the mistreatment and his arms feel numb, he knows he's shaking in fear even though he's still trying to curl up the best he can. He just sobs - quietly at first, because he's scared of attracting anyone's attention but thinking about the men makes him cry even harder and he's just sobbing and then he realises through his terror that he's shaking from the cold too.

He has no idea how long he sits there for shaking and crying with every scenario running through his head but eventually his eyes close when it's a bit lighter outside and he manages to exhaust himself enough that he falls asleep.

He wakes up, and for one split, blissfully ignorant second, he forgets where he is, but then the throbbing pain in his arms and the fear he feels return to him and he just wants to scream. He doesn't know how long he's awake for when the hatch opens and the men climb up.

Every inch of his body feels like it is burning, he is hyper alert, but he keeps his eyes shut and tries to feign sleep hoping that they would just leave again.

Even if he had been asleep the slap round the face one of the men gives him would have woken him up.

He opens his eyes and flinches, one of the men is kneeling in front of him clutching a crappy disposable cell phone and wearing a balaclava. He dials a number and Blaine's heart is hammering in his chest as the phone is pressed next to his ear.

"Talk to your brother. You can tell him you've been taken, but if you try anything we'll give you another eye patch, got it? We need you alive but not unharmed."

Blaine doesn't have time to recover from the threat before the phone starts ringing.

"Hey Blaine, what's up?"

Blaine has to breathe in deeply because there is a voice that he loves on the other end of that phone and there was a time last night when he didn't think he would ever get to hear that voice ever again. When he tries o talk he can barely get the words out.

"Coo…Cooper…help me…"

"Blaine? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Blaine can hear the worry in Cooper's voice instantly, it wavers - something he never usually hears - Cooper is usually so confident and cool.

"They…Coop they kidnapped me…"

"What? Who? Blaine can you tell me anything?"

Blaine wishes he could but he knows nothing. The phone is ripped away from him and he just wants to grab it back again, he listens to the man say that he knows Cooper…say that he'll be in touch. If he already knows Cooper then this was bad because it wasn't random - if Cooper had stolen something valuable and they wanted the money back…or if they just wanted revenge then this wouldn't work well at all - it means they willprobablyseriously hurt him.

"Please…just tell him what you want now, he'll get you the money or whatever you want I know he will!"

Blaine is too scared to be embarrassed about begging, if he was untied he would be begging on his knees right now.

"I'm having fun. You will get another phone call tonight discussing the ransom, if you do as you're told then you'll get fed."

The man leaves without another word and Blaine starts sobbing again. He doesn't know how long he sits there for until the realisation strikes him and he feels physically sick but it is long enough for his throat to be dry and the tears to have stopped.

He realises that the man had threatened him with injury - specifically, another eye patch.

He had that removed a month ago.

They'd been watching him.


	3. Chapter 3

Cooper's section here isn't massive, because they can't do much until after the next phone call. Also, I wanted Mozzie to have a nickname for Blaine, like he does for Peter ('the suit') so I settled on 'little you' which I quite like!

I hope you enjoy this! **Thank you** for everything you've said so far!

* * *

><p>The CCTV footage from the parking lot proved useless. They had a view of Blaine's car but the man's face was hidden by a baseball cap and they couldn't make anything out of what had happened after the man had climbed in and the camera doesn't extend enough to cover the entire parking lot - they don't even know what direction they drove in.<p>

Finding his car doesn't prove to be better either.

"Cooper we've found Blaine's car but there were no fingerprints left. We know roughly the time they would have gotten to that point, but there's no way of telling how long they stayed there for before they took Blaine away, or even if they lead him away on foot. Any of the cars coming out of either end of that country lane could have had him in and until we get more there's no way to narrow anything down. We ran number plates of every car coming off that junction but none were reported stolen and the cameras aren't directly opposite the junctions for that road anyway, so any car that passed it could have come from straight on or out of that road. We need something else to narrow the cars in the timeframe down."

They had no luck tracing the call, all they could hope was that they would when the next call came, but it was along shot.

Cooper wants to scream in frustration. They have nothing. No leads, at all. They are completely at the mercy of the bastards who took Blaine.

"If they did take him on foot somewhere…is there anywhere he could have gone?"

"An abandoned farmhouse but we've already searched it."

"Shit."

"What about you, any luck?"

"None." He'd been combing through anyone he could think of that might want revenge on him but the list is too long. "I have no idea even if it will be someone I did something too or if it was someone I helped put away with you. It could be anyone."

Peter sinks down opposites him and looks distressed, it isn't something Cooper can handle seeing right now - he needs to think that they have some kind of control here.

"It seems like all we can do then is wait for the next call."

"There has to be something. There's always something."

"When they call back, try and get a deal, try and get a video call. We can make sure he's okay and try and get some clues from it."

"Good idea."

They sit in silence until Dianna bursts into the room and hands each of them a fax. It's a scan of an I.D and a photo of a van for a painting and decorating company.

"That van has just been reported missing - the plate coincides with one of the ones we ran last night, so it was in the area at the time Blaine was. It wasn't reported stolen then, but it seems like the guy who was using it has taken off with it - there's no sign of him."

"Fake I.D then?"

Cooper squints at the page. "It's poor quality, I can't make out any telling details but I assume it is if the guy's took off with it."

"You think this is a lead?"

"It's the only one we have."

Could Cooper be looking at the guy who had taken Blaine, or were they just wasting time chasing down an idiot that wanted a free van?

He takes a copy of the fax down to the park and paces restlessly until Mozzie gets there.

"Here. It's all we have, he's made off with a company van that was in the area at the time they got Blaine out of his car but we don't know anything else. It isn't even the best quality so it might not even be fake."

"What do you think?"

"I think it is." Hopefully Mozzie's connections will turn something up, chances are if they took a van from this area they'll use the other resources available as well, maybe they'll lucky and find out something about this guy.

"I'll go round the usual rounds, see if I can find whoever made it, chances are its local and we know the best guys to go to so I'll start there. I'll keep my eyes open, see if I hear anything. I've had no luck otherwise but now there's something to go on…I am sorry Coop, I want little you back."

"Me too Moz."

* * *

><p>Blaine's head snaps to the side as the hatch to the attic or wherever he is opens and one of the men comes up and unties him.<p>

Blaine gets unsteadily to his feet, he's aching and weak and stumbles when he takes his first couple of steps. His bruises hurt and he feels light headed from hunger and stress. The man grabs his arm and leads him over to the hatch, he pulls out a piece of dark blue cloth from his back pocket and ties it around his head.

"One of the others is down that ladder waiting for you, don't bother trying to run."

He guides Blaine to the ladder so that he's in position to climb down even though he's blindfolded and Blaine guesses that they don't want their hostage falling to his death because the man actually takes care to position his feet and hands so he can get down safely.

He grips the rungs on the ladder as tight as he can and carefully climbs down. He shouts out in surprise when a hand grabs his leg and he steps down onto the floor. He's grabbed by the shoulders and guided into a room. He had to go up two sets of stairs before so he knows he isn't being lead outside. A door shuts behind him and he starts to panic until he hears one of the men shouts after him.

"You can take your blindfold off, you have ten minutes."

Blaine shakily un-knots the blindfold - he's in a bathroom.

He looks around in relief but it fades when he sees a window boarded shut - the curtains are shut behind the boards so it doesn't look a miss from outside and he opens all the cupboards and sees nothing at all that could help him. Nothing sharp. Nothing. He looks at himself in the mirror, he's dirty and looks completely washed out, he's bruises and sad and he closes his eyes because he can't stand to look at himself right now.

He turns the tap on and realises how dry his mouth his from all of the crying he's been doing and he's had nothing to drink. He bends down and drinks straight form the tap - he doesn't care about how unclean the water might be he just wants to quench his thirst.

He goes to the toilet and then has another drink and goes to the toilet again for good measure. Who knows when they'll next let him do this?

There's a thump on the door and Blaine jumps.

"Coming in!" The blindfold is tied around his head again and he blindly climbs up the ladder. When they take his blindfold off again he sees they've brought a chair upstairs, they sit him down on it and tie his feet. It's a horrible position but better than being tied with his arms secured behind his back. He folds his arms in front of his chest - something he has always done when he doesn't feel safe and he waits for what happens next.

"You're going to speak to your brother again. We want two-point-five million in three days time. We'll do the swap on Thursday they won't receive any contact details until the day of that exchange. You tell him that."

Three full days. Today was Monday, that was four nights in this hell.. Being tied up and hit and terrified for his life.

"You do as you're told and you can eat tonight."

Getting over the horror of the fact that they want to drag this out for days, it sinks in exactly what information he will be relaying to Cooper.

"Did…did you say, two and a half million dollars? What? Why would you even think he could get that money? I'm not worth that much!"

The man seems unconcerned. "Well if your brother thinks the sae then you're screwed. He'll get the money one way or another."

Oh. Because Cooper was a criminal.

Blaine doesn't want Cooper to stoop to that because Blaine can't stand not seeing him for another four years if he gets locked away again, but he understands now why they're aiming so high - they know he will go to any means to get the money. They must have this all planned out - they have been watching him after all.

They've been watching him…

If he tells Cooper that…if he repeats what the man said to him last night, Cooper will get it instantly and maybe, they'll find something, in some CCTV camera somewhere of these men…maybe it will help. His heart is thumping because he knows it definitely will help but the thought of trying to relay information to Cooper right under their noses and getting caught terrifies him…

They've already threatened him with not eating when his stomach is already twisting with hunger, not to mention the physical pain…

The alternative though, is waiting for days in the un-guaranteed hope he will be returned.

His dilemma is cut short by the loud ringing of another disposable cell phone, the call has been put on speakerphone. It doesn't ring for long, Cooper answers it instantly and Blaine aches thinking about his brother waiting for it to ring every second.

He's given the phone.

"Hi Cooper."

"Blaine!"

The man nudges him in the shoulder hard and he retells the information they gave him.

"Coop, they, they want two and a half million dollars and say they'll make the swap in three days and will tell you Thursday morning what to do. I'm sorry cooper, it's so much money!"

"Hey hey no, don't you worry about the money, I'll pay its no problem. I assume they're listening to this?"

"Yes."

Cooper speaks to the men. "Can we do this sooner?"

"No."

Blaine knows Cooper must be control himself right now, because there is a slight quiver in his voice betraying nerves and anger. "If you're dragging this out until Thursday then I want a video feed and a call from him twice a day at least."

Blaine's heart twists with hope at the idea but it fades when the men laugh.

"And why would you think you're in a position to make demands? Get us the money and you'll see your brother in something other than a body bag."

Cooper replied without a threat but the snarl in his voice is evident. "You'll get your money but if you insist on waiting then I want to see that he's safe - you could be playing me a recording for all I know. I want proof he's alive."

The men look at each other and nod. "Fine."

Blaine's head is swimming - Cooper basically just told him these men are capable of killing him - which they are but it doesn't reassure him. He knows Cooper wouldn't say anything to make him scared on purpose he knows a video feed is his best way of not getting permanently hurt in any way.

"Blaine are you hurt?"

"I'm okay."

His voice is going to break and cooper can tell. "Blaine tell me what they've done to you!"

Blaine screams at himself internally, do it, do it, do it - don't chicken out, be brave. Courage! Do it!

"Cooper, they…they just said that if they hurt me they'd give me another eye patch that's all. They just say if I do what they say I won't get hurt."

It was a risk. But apparently it paid off, the men didn't seem to realise that from those words Blaine had figured out an important detail of his kidnapping and that by repeating it Cooper ultimately would too.

"That's enough." They hang up the phone before Blaine can tell Cooper he loves him, but Blaine is glad he said it. "We'll be back with food in a couple of hours."

They leave him in darkness and he sobs, thankful he can now burry his head in his hands. He feels a tiny bit less powerless. It's all he can do, and he hopes it's enough.


	4. Chapter 4

Cooper allows himself to relish in the sound of Blaine's voice before he registers the useful points of that exchange. They would be allowed a video call - one that would at the very least prove Blaine to be alive and hopefully provide some locational clues.

Then, what Blaine said sinks in.

'They said they'd give me another eye patch…'

Another.

He had that patch off a month ago.

He collapses into a chair and leans forward with his head in his hands before picking up his cell phone again. Peter is looking at him critically but he'll pick up the point in a second when Cooper calls his father.

"Dad?"

"Cooper! Please tell me you have good news?"

"I need every security tape from the house for the last two months."

"Done."

"I'll be straight over."

He hangs up. There is no small talk after that, both men go about getting what they need to get Blaine back.

Cooper looks around at the room, they're waiting for him to speak.

"Blaine got attacked with a rock salt contaminated slushie and scratched his cornea, he had to wear an eye patch. He had it off a month ago. They've been watching him!"

Peter can obviously tell the anger coursing through him right now is close to being uncontrollable so the conversation is redirected. "Your parents house has security cameras?"

"Yes. Dad's a snob about his cars and the back yard is completely secure, so there is a camera showing the drive and the street, If they've been close enough to watch him we might get lucky and be able to identify or track someone - we'll get the security footage from the others on the street too."

"Right let's go."

"Have you spoken to your parents much since he was taken?"

"No, just the once."

Peter seemed to be intent on keeping up a useless stream of conversation so that Cooper wasn't tempted to roll out the car and pull something drastic by himself.

Cooper would if he had more than nothing to go on.

He greets his parents as quickly as he can - he just wants the footage. His mother is hysterical, and his father looks no different to usual - stony faced and strict, the only evidence of stress is the gaunt look you get from not sleeping well. He wants out of this house, where he can make himself useful - getting into a fight about how if it weren't for his father's homophobia they could have had hours extra time in searching for Blaine wouldn't help him now.

"This is all the footage?"

"Everything." He tucks the flash drive safely into his jacket. Behind them Peter is awkwardly trying to comfort his mother, offering sentiments that they're doing everything they can, and while that's true and they are, Cooper has heard such a speech a thousand times before and now, when it's his family, his flesh and blood - his little brother on the line, they feel empty. So he wraps his mother up into a hug, and shakes his father's hand and leaves the second that they have the security footage from all the houses on their street.

"Cooper I trust if anyone can find him, it's you."

"I'll find him."

When he was younger Cooper had always had the best relationship with his dad - they shared so many common interests and he was the model son - everything an Anderson should be. But filling those requirements so fully meant Blaine had been overshadowed and neglected. The stiff air which surrounded their family had still managed to produce someone as selfless and young at heart as Blaine but he had suffered for it, caring too much about what others think and growing up feeling the constant need to please and be better when he was already so perfect. Cooper had been too late to realise their family relations weren't equal. His parents had tried hard over the years to reconnect with him, but always ended up in the same fight. Somehow, despite having a brother who had landed himself in prison, Blaine was still considered the family screw up. The only reason Cooper hadn't severed ties with them was for Blaine's sake.

Cooper had really let Blaine down, he'd gotten locked up for the four most painful years of his life and he was not going to let him down again.

Peter drives them back, but he doesn't take them to the office - he stops at Cooper's house.

"Go home and sleep we're just going to be pouring over security footage - there is nothing you can do."

"Peter I can't."

"I will call you the second we find something, I promise. You know you can trust me."

"I do, but it doesn't feel right…"

"At least go and get dinner, get out of the office, have a shower and then come back. You can't destroy yourself over this."

"Small price to pay."

"Two hours then. I'll pick you up in two hours."

"Deal."

Those two hours both simultaneously drag and pass in a blur. He does shower - spends far too long in there, but it gives him nothing else to focus on except Blaine so he eats instead, what little he can and then has a beer to see if it will calm his nerves at all. Of course it doesn't. He's glad to be back at the station, staring at security footage of his own home and desperately wishing something useful will come up.

It does, in the early hours of the morning when everyone is understandably fuzzy eyed and drifting off home in shifts to get some rest before coming back. Cooper feels a swirl of warmth at them all - treating this with as much vigour as they would any case, if not more despite their original hesitance to accept him as a presence on the force.

"There." Jones points at a red car parked on the opposite side of the street, two houses down. "That's the fourth time that car has been there. Cooper do you recognise it?"

"No. It isn't new or well kept enough to belong to any house on that street. Trust me. If it moves on again after Blaine is out of sight then we can call it a suspect."

"Every other time it's been there Blaine has either parked on the driveway and gone straight into the house within seconds, or he hasn't been alone."

This is one of those times, Cooper watches with stinging eyes at what he can see on the screen, a hazy image of his brother climbing out of his car and then playfully opening the door for Kurt, bowing a little and yanking him out. They leaned against the car for a few seconds and kissed lazily and then fell towards the house, laughing and carefree in a way Cooper can barely even remember him doing before. In a way that could potentially never exist again if he didn't find a way to get him back.

The front door closes and the car drives away.

It isn't a coincidence. It can't be.

They run the number plate, but it's fake, it did nothing except confirm what they know - whoever is in that car is responsible. It's a serious blow to Cooper that the plate is a dead end but hopefully whoever uses that car, keeps using it and they get a visual - they wouldn't use a fake number plate otherwise, not on a stolen car that they would just abandon in the end.

Right now a random car, and a random man's fake ID are the only clues they have. Cooper is the best at whatever he does, so he recognises just how hard this is going to be.

* * *

><p>Blaine has lost all sense of time. The window helps - he knows it's evening now because it's dark but he has no idea how long it was he had cried for until he had wiped his tears away and realised something.<p>

He had wiped his tears away.

They had left his hands untied.

His stomach actually feels like it leaps at the thought, he feels jolted and dizzy and he's shaking but he bends down and reaches for his ankles. They're tied to the chair leg but the rope only feels like it goes around the one chair leg - he can actually get to it, he can feel the knot.

Maybe, if he could get free he would be able to hide by the hatch and when it opened and the men came back up he'd be able to get back down…If they don't note in time or if he can close them in behind him…he could escape…

It is a massive long shot and his heart is hammering at the thought alone but he knows with fierce certainty that if he doesn't try absolutely everything to get free, if he doesn't take every opportunity he gets then he will regret it forever. He regrets letting those bullies at his first school literally chase him out, he regrets not doing anything and only learning to stand up for himself afterwards and he knows he'll regret just waiting now and not trying to do something, even though he knows that something will likely end up a futile effort and causing him a lot of pain. If he's going to be killed by these men or seriously hurt he wants to know he did everything he could - he knows Cooper is going crazy doing everything he can to get him back - he wants to work just as hard and make him proud.

He wants to go home.

It's hard, trying to untie something you can't see when you're equal parts excited and terrified that of being successful. The tips of his fingers feel numb and he's getting increasingly desperate until finally, his left ankle is free. He kicks his leg out in disbelief of actually being able to move it freely. He chokes out a sob and frantically starts trying to get the other one undone too. The possibility of getting himself out seems all the more real when he's freed one ankle.

But he doesn't finish in time. The hatch opens and two of the men climb up. Still with their faces covered. Blaine's been caught red handed trying to escape and he feels so stupid now because who was he kidding? Of course it wouldn't work!

Sure enough, one of them comes up to him straight away and slams his fist into his cheek.

Blaine has been beaten up enough in his past to be able to take a hit with a bit more restraint than those who do not expect one or those who have never been hit before. But those punches were from teenage boys, and this one, from an adult, sends his head slamming to the side. He lets out of a shout of pain and he brings his hands up to cover his face. He keeps his eyes screwed shut and hope that's all. He can't take much more. The sheer force behind it is unlike anything he has ever gone through before this happened to him. Even at Sadie Hawkins when three of them were sparing him and Kevin no mercy, it would have taken three strikes to his face to equal the intensity of the pain he was feeling right now.

He gets an equally forceful punch to the stomach which has him doubled over, knees to his forehead and arms wrapped around himself in a vain effort to protect his body.

A final kick right on his now freed shin is all it takes for him to be begging in desperation. "No, stop it. Please I'm sorry!"

"Leave it now." The voice sounds bored and Blaine can't believe that the other guy is even saying his partner should stop. He doesn't recognise this man's voice - he must have been driving the van that night he was taken.

"Little fucker was trying to escape."

"He'd have to be fucking brain dead not to try and escape after you left his hands untied, fuck off and go and get the food order - I'll deal with him."

The other guy grumbles and sounds annoyed but Blaine feels safer once he hears the sound of him leaving the attic although he has no idea where he stands with this new guy. He can feel strong hands retying the bonds of his feet, Blaine offers no resistance and still keeps himself curled up into himself until the man nestles a hand in his hair and pulls his head up so that they make eye contact.

"Listen kid, I'm fine with teaching you a lesson for doing something stupid like trying to escape but my friends? They'll do it for fun. So don't give us any excuses, because you'll regret it in the end. We just want to be paid and we don't need you conscious or in good health. If it comes to it, we just need you to be only just alive. Understand?"

Blaine understood so much that he could barely even breathe.

"Y-yes. I, understand."

The man thrusts a water bottle at him and Blaine sees the ripples that his shaking hands cause in the liquid. He wants to open the bottle and drink it all in one go - his stomach is clenching for his thirst to be quenched but he is too paranoid and has watched too many films and read too many books to not be suspicious of it.

What if it was drugged?

It seems this guy knows what he was thinking, because he laughs. "Kid if we wanted to rape you we wouldn't need drugs. And if we wanted to drug you we could force them down you in an instant. It's just water, fucking drink it."

Blaine swallows nervously, what the man says is true - they could force him to do anything right now and he wouldn't have a choice, if there were drugs in here they wanted him to take they would be in his system soon enough, one way or another. So he uncaps the bottle and sniffs it tentatively, before drinking. It feels so good to have a drink - even if it does have something in it at least before he passes out he'll feel the relief of having a drink.

It seems that the man was right though, it was just water - Blaine feels no different by the time the other guy comes back with food. He walks over to Blaine with a sneer on his face that causes Blaine to flinch harshly and the man to laugh cruelly, but thankfully all he does is hand over a small six sliced cheese and tomato pizza. Blaine knows that realistically, he should take his time with it - knows that after having nothing but water for almost a full twenty-four hours now is going to make any new food, especially greasy takeout hard to handle. But he is starving. Half the pain he feels - the dizziness and the stomach ache he recognises from hunger pains, so when he timidly asks permission to eat and is granted it, he devours the entire thing.

When he is finished he knows instantly that the food has made him feel somewhat better - the fogginess from being so intensely hungry has lifted and he toys with the cardboard box in his hands, the words 'Eliza's homemade pizza' sprawling across the lid.

It's taken away from him and he quietly thanks the men for the food as they blindfold him again and let him use the bathroom. He drinks from the sink again and avoids the mirror completely - he can feel the angry pulse in the side of his face from being struck so hard and he doesn't need to see it as well.

It seems the other man - the one who had hit him has left now, and he is left with the kinder one.

It strikes Blaine how horrid his situation is because before this, if anyone had ever attributed the word kind to a kidnapped Blaine would have laughed at them and said it wasn't possible.

They return to the dim little attic and the man shoves Blaine into the room so he is clear of the hatch which he shuts pointedly - as if Blaine would try and escape again so soon. "Sit over where you were first put."

Blaine hobbles over and sits, back to the wooden pillar connecting floor to slanted roof and the man ties his hands together but he doesn't tie them behind his back he ties them in front and then he connects the end of the rope to the wood, giving him a bit of leeway. He drops an old and fusty smelling sleeping bag onto his legs. It's thin - probably a summer one, but sleeping upright the night before, tied and terrified and freezing leaves Blaine grateful for that piece of sparse material. He wiggles inside it, desperate to settle into it before it can be taken away. The man kneels next to him and grabs his hair again.

"If you try and escape again then that's it, alright? We beat the hell out of you until we get bored, you get no food, no water - nothing. You'll regret it and we'll enjoy making you regret it."

Blaine nods as best he can even though it hurts his head and pulls his hair. The man smiles at him and slaps him around the face for what appears to be good measure, for he says nothing else - just leaves him alone again.

The sleeping bag is useless really, it does nothing to comfort the hardness of the floor and the smell is making him feel slightly queasy, but it is keeping a chill off of him and he is glad to be able to lie down. He curls up as best he can and tucks his bound hands to his chest. He can feel himself start to cry again as his mind lets him do nothing but go over everything that has happened to him.

He doesn't know what it is exactly that brings him to the idea, it's probably thinking about how gross he feels - how he wishes he could brush his teeth because the water wasn't enough alone to fully wash away the taste of the pizza…but he realises that the name of the pizza shop wasn't a fast food chain name he recognised. It had said that it was homemade - even given a name…what if…what if there was only one 'Eliza's homemade pizza' shop?

That would help Cooper out, right? No one gets takeout from somewhere miles away from where they're taking it to…

If he told Cooper the name of that pizza place when he next gets a phone call…it could help…

He was already in so much pain from his mistreatment…there would be no way to disguise what he was doing - that would be it - they would beat the shit out of him - and he would be lucky if that was all that happened to him. He presses his knuckles into his eyes harshly. It's information that he is smart enough to recognise will likely help find him…

The only trouble is, he's petrified.

He isn't sure that he even has any courage left.

* * *

><p>Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews and all of your alerts, thank you, thank you, thank you! I really hope this doesn't disappoint anyone!<p> 


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